Curbing global warming, cutting automobile pollution and increasing gas mileage are the topics of a public hearing tonight on the state’s proposed Clean Cars program.
The hearing will be held at 7 p.m. at the Community Justice Center in Medford, 1101 W. Main St., Suite 101.
"During the gas crisis in the ’70s, the auto industry slacked off and didn’t do it — they didn’t make cars more fuel efficient," said Rep. Peter Buckley of Ashland who drives a Toyota hybrid.
He said the governor’s program, which needs to be adopted by the state Energy Commission, would set standards that would not only cut air pollution but increase the fuel efficiency of new cars.
Buckley said that if the governor’s proposal to enforce the same tough emission standards in Oregon is adopted it will mean three states on the West Coast — California, Oregon and Washington — will have the same rules. The rules are far tougher than federal standards.
"It just needs the push to make this work," he said.
By 2009, new vehicles would have to begin meeting some of the new standards.
By 2016, if adopted, all new cars, sport utility vehicles and light trucks sold in the three states would have to comply with the tougher standards on emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide.
Auto dealers in Oregon have opposed the standards, saying they will increase the cost of vehicles.
The auto industry is suing California over its new standards, saying the rules would eventually add $3,000 to the cost of a new car.
Alan DeBoer, president of the Oregon Automobile Dealers Association and a members of the governor’s task force on the program, said the plan will have little impact.
"It is purely political," said DeBoer of Ashland. "It will do nothing to clean the air or help global warming."
He said 70 percent of the new cars sold by the 270 new car dealers in Oregon already have California emission controls on them.
He said that if the governor and the state were serious about pollution and global warming there are other technologies available.
"We’re all concerned about clean air and the environment," he said.
DeBoer said selling reformulated gas that would burn cleaner would add five to 10 cents a gallon, but would bring more benefits than this program.
DeBoer said the industry is already moving in the direction of cleaner vehicles, with improved diesel fuel hitting the market this year that will cut down on pollutants.
Jeremiah Baumann, a clean air advocate for the Oregon State Public Interest Research Group, said consumers would actually realize a savings because the newer vehicles would get better gas mileage.
Citing a National Academy of Sciences study, Baumann said the technology currently exists to make the average gas mileage on vehicles 40 miles per gallon rather than just 20.5 miles per gallon now.
Baumann said the automobile industry has made great strides over the past 30 years in cutting down on pollutants.
However, a study by OSPIRG found total pollution from cars and trucks in Oregon will be 31 percent higher than 1990 levels by 2020 if nothing is done to force changes in the auto industry. The Clean Cars program would require new cars and trucks to cut their emissions 30 percent by 2016.
In the Rogue Valley, which struggles to control air pollution because of its geography, the program would mean between 12 and 38 percent less pollution, according to OSPIRG.
